GIANTS: Cruz drawing a lot more attention from opposing defenses

New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz (80) catches a pass as Washington Redskins cornerback Josh Wilson (26) and Madieu Williams pursue him during the second half of an NFL football game on Sunday, Oct. 21, 2012, in East Rutherford, N.J. The Giants won the game 27-23. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

EAST RUTHERFORD — Victor Cruz took the NFL by surprise in his first year as a starter for the Giants when he usually drew single coverage on his pass routes and ended up catching 82 balls for nine touchdowns and a franchise record 1,536 yards.

Now, defenses aren’t looking past him. In fact most of them time they have a cornerback, safety, and sometimes even a linebacker watching every move he makes on a pass route.

And with Hakeen Nicks not at 100% because of lingering ankle problems the pressure us on Cruz more than ever, especially with the Giants offense struggling to get in the endzone.

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“We’re still able to find our spots and find areas where I can get the ball and be effective. I’ve just got to work through a lot more traffic,” Cruz was telling the media the other day as he and the Giants got ready to play in Cincinnati Sunday at 1 p.m.

At 6-3 the Giants are hoping to get back in the win column and maintain their 2.5 game lead in the NFC East heading into their bye week. They have won three of the last four games against the Bengals - all at old Giants Stadium - but still trail the alltime series, 5-3. Cincinnati won the first four games in a series that dates back to 1972, with all their wins coming at home.

So what kind of coverages are opponents throwing at the Salsa King?

“More double teams, more guys in my face. Not so much off-coverage, more physicality,” says the kid from Paterson. “More of them (DBs) are trying to get their hands on me. It’s just something I’ve got to be prepared for and continue to work and defeat the coverage.

“It’s all part of the game. It’s all stuff that I have had to go through, so it’s not draining,” says Cruz, who caught only five of the 11 passes Eli Manning threw his way last week against the Steelers, gaining 67 yards.

Cruz leads the G-Men with 57 receptions for 717 yards and seven touchdowns. That’s 25 more catches than the No. 2 receiver on the team - tight end Martellus Bennett - who has 32 for 374 yards.

Against the Bengals Cruz faces another of those matchups that seem to catch the eye of fans and the focus of the TV and radio commentators.

A.J. Green is the Bengals’ top receiver threat and one of the NFL’s most talented wideouts. He has caught at least one touchdown in seven consecutive games and is tied for the league lead with eight overall.

Green is seventh in the NFL with 51 catches and fourth with 735 yards, one spot below Cruz.

Green added some fuel to the matchup when he said on WFAN yesterday that the Giants defense “is soft.” It didn’t sit well with some of the Giants’ DBs, especially Antrel Rolle.

Cruz isn’t going to get caught up in a war of words. He has enough to worry about catching passes against more double coverage since Nicks likely won’t play and isn’t planning to return until after the bye when the Giants host Green Bay.

“Once Hakeem gets back healthy, it’s going to be a lot more difficult for guys to key in on one guy. Keying in on one receiver that kind of opens up our game plan a little bit,” claims Cruz.

“Everybody knows Hakeem is a big play guy and makes plays down the field. He really stretches the field for us, so we’re just waiting for him to get healthy and we’ll be all right.”

Against the Steelers Big Blue had just 114 net passing yards, it’s lowest tiotal since 2007 when it got 94 in a playoff-clinching win at Buffalo. It also ahd only 13 first downs last week and has only moved the chains 24 times in its last two games.

Coughlin has made it a point to mention the lack of first downs to the offense so Manning and his wideouts can focus more on making catches beyound the first down marker.

“He (Coughlin) didn’t really say anything to us, just more of getting our timing right, understanding where we’re at on the field, understanding where we want to be against specific coverages and then we can just work from there,” said Cruz, who has found Coughlin’s idea of having more one-on-one work between Eli and his receivers productive in practice.

“Today was good. We had a good tempo to it and had some good opportunities,” explained Cruz. “We did a one on one period just to get some more timing down. It felt like a productive day.

One Cruz and the Giants receivers hope to duplicate Sunday in Cincinnati.